exhibit such complex talents of its own
accord. God shows us His incomparable
creative art in the talents He has inspired
in living creatures.
We will describe in greater detail the
work of Professor Pepperberg and use
some examples of Alex’s behavior to
show what a parrot is capable of doing. If we generalize about his
skills, not only can he produce and comprehend sentences, but he al-
so understands concepts of category, “same/different,” absence,
quantity, color and size. He can tell whether one object is different
from another, and whether there is such an object in the room.
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- Alex has learned the names of more than 40 objects: paper,
key, nut, wood, wheat, truck, “hide” (rawhide chips), “peg wood”
(clothespins), grain, cork, corn, walnut, block, box, “showah”
(shower), banana, pasta, gym, cracker, “scraper” (nail file), popcorn,
chain, kiwi, shoulder, “rock” (a lava stone beak conditioner), carrot,
gravel, cup, citrus, back, chair, chalk, water, nail, grape, grate, treat,
cherry, wool, green bean, and “banerry” (apple).
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Alex, the parrot trained by
Professor Pepperberg, was
able not only to produce
and conceptualize phrases;
but could understand cate-
gories such as quantity, col-
or and dimension. This high
consciousness that we see
in animals is inspired by
God in living creatures.
The High Level of Consciousness
in Birds that Imitate Sounds
